Wilmington Housing Authority

A Wilmington program is helping low-income families find affordable, safe housing while also boosting the local economy by supporting small business.

The Wilmington Housing Authority is accepting applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program waiting list for the first time in three years. Under the program, the housing authority pays a subsidy to the landlord while the renter pays the difference. When a voucher becomes available, the housing authority gives it to those on the waiting list.

The Wilmington Housing Authority is poised to apply for the federal grant that would make possible the revitalization of the city’s distressed Southside neighborhood. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to release the grant application in June. And to be a contender for this thirty million-dollar award, Wilmington must demonstrate significant community buy-in. The Authority already enjoys support from the City, the police, and several area nonprofits, but their final frontier is engaging the local business community.

The Wilmington Housing Authority is narrowing its focus when it comes to revitalizing the Southside neighborhood between Castle and Martin Streets. This comprehensive initiative to attract mixed-income residents, municipal services, and resources such as educational and athletic facilities would be far more feasible with help from a ninety-million-dollar grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

In gearing up to apply for a ninety-million-dollar grant to revitalize a huge swath of the city, the Wilmington Housing Authority made a loud plea for citizen involvement. And it’s now being answered. Nearly one hundred people—from public housing residents to local business leaders—are volunteering to serve on sub-committees dedicated to making Wilmington’s application as competitive as it can be.

The Wilmington Housing Authority is moving full-speed toward its goal of getting a thirty-million-dollar federal grant to revitalize Hillcrest—and it’s seeking public input. If awarded a competitive Choice Neighborhood Grant, the Authority will be working with the community to improve not only the public housing project, but the city spanning Third to Fifteenth, and Castle to Martin streets.

If the Wilmington Housing Authority is to receive a thirty-million-dollar federal CHOICE Neighborhoods Grant to revitalize Hillcrest, they’ll be charged with infrastructure and education improvements to improve not only the housing development--but the surrounding city. To make this happen, they’ll need help from a wide range of community partners. As WHQR’s Katie O’Reilly reports, the Housing Authority is hoping to secure these partnerships by appealing to investors’ sense of social equity.

It’s a busy time of year for most, but especially for the Wilmington Housing Authority. Not only is the Authority gearing up to apply for a massive federal grant to revitalize areas of the city surrounding the Hillcrest community, but it’s also angling for competitive state tax credits to enable new construction. These credits, reports WHQR’s Katie O’Reilly, would provide housing for a burgeoning low-income demographic: senior citizens.

For the first time ever, the Wilmington Housing Authority is applying for a competitive, thirty-million-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD—and they want to make it a community affair. Today the Housing Authority gathered city and county leaders at the Hillcrest development to strategize on winning a Choice Neighborhood Grant. It’s part of an effort, as WHQR’s Katie O’Reilly reports, to transform housing projects into areas indistinguishable from the surrounding city.

As of this  morning, the Wilmington Housing Authority is in new hands. Following CEO Michael Krause’s arrest Sunday for driving with a blood alcohol level measuring more than four times the legal limit, the Authority’s board of commissioners has terminated him. The charge marked Krause’s second DWI since taking the position in 2008. Vernice Hamilton, the Authority’s director of human resources, will step up as interim CEO.

The Wilmington Housing Authority is cracking down on crime in public housing communities. At Monday's monthly board meeting, a UNCW graduate student is presenting a study on criminal activity in affordable housing. And the Authority is proposing sweeping policy changes in an effort to get public housing residents and their visitors off the streets late at night.

Some of Wilmington’s homeless veterans are about to get some good news. Yesterday, the Wilmington Housing Authority was awarded a $94,000 grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development--or HUD--which translates to fifteen housing vouchers for area veterans. Wilmington was one of only three cities in the state to receive this allocation.